the sole questioner tonight is jim lehrer. it's the 12th time he's served as moderator. >> lehrer: good evening. from the magnus arena at the university of denver in denver, colorado. i'm jim lehrer of the pbs newshour and i welcome you to the first of the 2012 presidential debates between president barack obama the democratic nominee and former massachusetts governor romney, the republican nominee. this debate and the next three-- two presidential, one vice presidential-- are sponsored by the commission on presidential debates. tonight's 90 minutes will be about domestic issues and will follow a format designed by the commission. there will be six roughly 15-minute segments with two-minute answers for the first question. then open discussion for the remainder of each segment. thousands of people offered suggestions on segment subjects or questions via the internet and other means but i made the final selections and, for the record, they were not submitted for approval to the commission or the candidates. the segments, as i an